New Art-Embedded Specialisation in BSc Honours Program also available for PhD’s

In cooperation with colleague philosophers from TBM and professional artists, Eduardo Mendes formulated a new Specialisation in the Interfaculty BSc Honours Program named “Awareness & Culture”. It consists of a package of six courses, summing up 20 credits and containing four courses based on “art-embedded learning methodologies”, one coaching course and a cultural trip. As approved by graduate school, art-embedded learning courses are now also available to PhD students.

Art-Embedded Learning is a new methodology, hardly used in adult higher education, that is the backbone in this Specialisation. It follows the success of the course ‘Art, Empathy & Ethics’, which has been offered in the past two years and was first introduced as an MSc elective course at ChemE. In that course, students are guided by, and actively interact with, professional artists in weekly sessions, in order to formulate their own debatable ethical questions related to the impact of new technologies on society. The origin and direction of these ethical questions, and the surrounding debate, are therefore not only based on accumulated knowledge or information but take a critical contribution from an inner, personal “discovery”, through the exercise of “making art as a professional artist.”

Such Art-Embedded methodology that we are developing on the run, falls under the umbrella of “transformative learning”, promoting self-discovery, personal transformation and awareness of the self. It challenges the students to discover and overcome their own bias, their “habits of mind” promoting a space to grow as a person, increasing their self-esteem and the ability to conscious  reflect on their career choices and the impact they have on society as professionals.

The offered courses, that can be taken as a full package or as single courses by Honours students,  are also open to PhD students, following approval by the Graduate School. Places are, however, limited for the moment.

The courses are:

Art, Empathy & Ethics. Under the guidance of professional artists, you will develop your own original ethical, debatable question into an art project and ethics essay. It is embedded in Visual and Performing Arts, the theme of this year is “Connectivity”.

Matter of Art. The course focusses on the multiple interpretations and meaningfulness of new technologies (or new materials) during their development in the lab (as much as possible during Covid-19 times). Together with art students and teachers of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, you will be artistically challenged to set unforeseen requirements to the materials than you would normally do in the lab.

The Laboratory of Science Fiction. The course zooms in on the very frontiers of life science and technology, and the (re-)definition of what it means to be human. It is embedded in various Art Media related to science fiction, and you will create your own sci-fi narrative.

The World is a Stage… The course focuses on the interface between new technological developments & policies, at the level of the individual and society as a whole. It is embedded in Theatre & Opera under the guidance of professional artists.

Detailed description of the above courses are found in the TU Delft studyguide, and on the Honours Specialisation Awareness and Culture webpage